23
by WOLF TITAN
Summary: the number is every where be carefull and know the truth and beware the cat next door


"All the characters in this book are fictitious, And anyone finding a

resemblance to actual persons, Living or dead, should

proceed no further."

"Chapter 1:

you can call me Kyuubi, It's not my real name. It came from a book I read as a child,

'Kyuubi at the zoo.' Paper flap long gone, It had a green hardback

cover and mottled texture. It was possibly my very first book. Funny, I can't recall what it was about. The only thing I

remember is the name-

Kyuubi.I wished it was mine

And now it is."

"Chapter 2:

Imagine me, if you must,

As someone you once knew.

Someone perhaps you liked, Or better yet,

Imagine me as a kid, I was top of my class, Not because I liked studying,

but because I realized That an education was my best shot at getting out. See, the stork dropped me in

a small dustbowl of a town.

There wasn't anything wrong with it.

As far as boring towns go, I'm sure it ranked above average.

I had friends, but... I always felt alone. No one ever left, But I wasn't gonna die here. As much as I loved him,I didn't want to be

anything like my dad. He seemed so distant and sad. Numbers were his life.

He was an I guess he had expected me to

take over the business he had built,

But I had other plans. My mom was tickled pink on my eighth birthday When I announced I

wanted to be a 't say the same for my father.

It really put the kibosh on his master plan And it fueled his hatred

for the widow Senjus. She lived next door. - It sounds odd, but her dog tori...

Is the reason I became a detective.

The grass is always greener on the other side, At least according to tori. That's why he was always in our yard,And it was my job to catch I never crossed the fence

into the widow Senjus' yard. That was my father's rule. On my eighth birthday, I broke the rule. Now I must admit that my

loneliness and obsessionWith detective stories

had fueled fantasies. So I'm not sure of all the details,

Except one. The widow Senjus was dead. It was a whole hour before the doctor arrived, And in that uncertain hour My eight-year-old

mind raced.I decided that the

widow Senjus was killed By a man with a deranged mind, A mind such as our town

had never seen before. No one would be safe from

him, not even his loved ones. Especially his loved ones. Of course, a doctor later

concluded that it was suicide, But I never believed it. By then, my mind had been

opened to a whole new existence.

From this, a detective was born-

Detective Kyuubi."

This has promise too.

chapter 3 suicide blonde

I meet the suicide blonde." I got a tip from your

neighborhood watch.

I know what you're up to.

This befriend-Me crap, it won't work.

Come any closer and I'll do it.

Well, I hope you don't.

It's my birthday today.

You end up hanging yourself,

it'll be the worst one ever.

You're pathetic.

- I'm serious. I'll

do it. - Hanging-

It's a painful thing.

Most people get the noose wrong,

End up walking around with

a permanent necklace...

agonizing reminder of how

fucking pitiful they are.

Come on, let's talk.

If you're still bummed, I'll

put one right between your eyes.

I'm a good shot.

Is it really your birthday?

"The suicide blonde

tells me she was a good person once,

But now..."

I'm a bad person.

I don't wanna make you bad.

You don't have that power.

Go see my ex-Boyfriend. He'll show you.

"I should

have gotten out of there

Right at that moment,

but then she said..."

It's this number!

This fucking

number- 23.

It rules my world.

It's my father's fault.

He said he'd found a

way to beat the number,

That he'd beat it, that I was safe.

He said, "daddy loves you.

And he's gonna do something...

...to guarantee that

you won't inherit the curse."

He was wrong.

His guarantee wasn't worth

the blood it was written in.

I guess daddy didn't love me enough.

It's everywhere-

Dates, times,

License plate numbers, pages of books,

Even elevator floor lights.

Soon I found it was in my name.

It was in the words I spoke.

Nothing, nothing is safe.

Pink is my favorite color.

Do you know what pink is?

Red 27, white 65.

65 plus 27- 92.

Pink has four letters.

92 divided by four.

Twenty-Fucking-Three!

"I'll be honest-

I didn't get it.

I asked her the only

question I could muster."

Any more coffee?

"It was

important to keep her talking,

So I tell her a story."

I had this

uncle, his name was charlie.

And, uh, one day, he read in his stars

That he was gonna fall in love

With a woman in red.

So he went out looking all day long

And he found one.

Six months later, they were married.

You're lying.

Two years later, the woman

in red divorces my uncle,

Takes him for everything he's got.

He's out there right now

At this very moment...

still looking for the woman in red.

Figures he just got the wrong one.

And this is supposed to

make me feel better how?

You look smarter than my uncle charlie.

"She has

a face meant to smile.

And as I exit the building,

I figure it's another job well done.

The next day I traced the ex-Boyfriend

Suicide blonde mentioned.

Burning coffee grounds is an old trick

Cops use to take away the

smell of death at a crime scene.

But somebody had used all the coffee.

When I tell Cherry

about the suicide blonde,

She begs me to take

her to the apartment.

Her reaction is pure Cherry.

Death

and sex-

What a turn-On.

As the pages fell from the walls,

The scope of the suicide

blonde's obsession became clear.

She had reduced everything to 23."

It's

everywhere- Dates, times,

License plate numbers, pages of books,

Even elevator floor lights.

Soon I found it was in my name.

It was in the words I spoke.

It was in my name. It was in my name.

It was in the words I spoke.

"When I

found out what her name was,

That added up too.

Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I mean, a name is just a name.

And a number is just a number.

Isn't it?"

"Chapter 7:

The suicide blonde had given

Cherry a taste for new thrills.

I played along,

But all I could think

about was the number."

Thanks.

"I didn't tell her

That the clock behind

the desk read 9:14.

Just rip it open. Just rip it off.

Pretend you have a knife.

Pretend you have a knife.

Come on.

I know you're gonna hurt me.

You shut up, bitch,

Or you die.

"Of course I

would never really harm Cherry.

I loved her. And I

thought she loved me."

"But I started

having terrible nightmares."

Eight,

nine, 10, 11, 12, 13-

What are you doing?

Reading.

You're insane.

- Isaac?

- Simply put,

It's a box that collects

Orgone energy.

We'll talk about wilhelm reich

next week. Thank you for coming.

Well, it sounds like a fascinating read.

Of course there exist far too few books

Where the main character

plays the saxophone.

I wasn't aware you also played.

I don't. That's just

it, it doesn't all match.

It's the number. I'm

seeing it everywhere.

Well, conspiracy buffs

would say, "of course.

After all, the world

spins in an axis of 23°."

When you tell them it's

actually 23.5, they say

Five is simply two plus three.

23 is very

good at this particular game.

- Game?

- Yeah, paranoia.

- There's a fair bit of literature on the 23 enigma.

- There is?

There are 23 axioms

to euclid's geometry.

The human body consists

of 46 chromosomes-

23 from each parent.

Blood takes 23 seconds to circulate.

The mayans believed the end of the world

Would occur december 12th, 2012.

20 plus 12 is?

23 reversed.

Or 20 plus one plus two.

So what is this?

What is 23?

Is it...

god?

Two

divided by three-

.666.

666, the number of the devil.

There are only 22 chapters

in the book of revelations.

We all know how that ends.

So is 23 a blessing or a curse?

What's true is that there's

a select group of people

That take delight in

perpetuating the number's infamy.

Lucky seven, unlucky 13,

Ballplayers, lucky shoes.

People only pray because they believe

that god will help them if they do.

This is magical thinking,

Non-Scientific causal

reasoning. Now you're-

You're looking for so you're finding it.

Agatha thinks I'm nuts.

Finish the book.

And if after reading it in its entirety,

You still believe the subject to be you,

Then whoever wrote it

knows you very well.

And only they can give you your answer.

- That's a good idea.

- And in the meantime

I can speak to Agatha, if you like.

Hmm.

The

number was everywhere.

You have 23 pairs of shoes.

You're counting my shoes?

- What are you doing?

- Reading.

You're insane.

"Night after night

I killed Cherry in my dreams.

I explained to the department shrink

what her full name added up to."

- 23.

- What do you think that means?

I don't know, miles.

Maybe I should be a fucking accountant.

"The wise dr.

Phoenix recommends I take a break."

Maybe you should take a break.

"Like

time is gonna heal me."

Time is a-

A gentle man.

"Time is

just a counting system,

Numbers with meaning attached to them.

Still, a break is what he

prescribes. He called it-"

Emotional leave.

So you're not a detective anymore.

"Cherry

was not impressed."

I'm a detective on vacation.

- And you don't have a gun?

I still have these.

Maybe you should just

get some sleep tonight.

"The

number was everywhere.

At this point,

I don't need to tell you

How many pairs of shoes she had.

What are these shoes doing in the trash?

Did you know you had 23 pair?

Oh!

You're insane!

The Hiroshima bomb was dropped at 8:15.

Eight plus 15 is 23.

Waco, Texas, and the

Oklahoma city bombing

Both happened on april 19th.

Four plus 19 is 23.

Tropic of Cancer, 23.5° north;

Capricorn 23.5° south.

10886 is the number al capone wore

On his uniform in prison.

Ted bundy was executed

on the 23rd of january.

It's all 23.

"She didn't understand,

Which was fine because neither did I.

All I knew was

The number had gone

after suicide blonde,

Isabel lydia hunt.

Now it was coming after me."

I can speak to Cherry if you like.

"I believe he said

it in total innocence at the time.

But looking back..."

I can speak to Cherry if you like.

"...I wish I had reacted differently."

"I should have realized the truth.

I know it's absurd,

- But even the color of his tie betrayed him."

Do you know what pink is?

Red 27, white 65.

65 plus 27- 92.

Pink has four letters.

92 divided by four...

twenty-Fucking-Three!

In the meantime, I can

speak to Agatha if you like.

Paranoia. 23 is very good at this...

paranoia, paranoia.

Chapter

22 was as I feared.

Tropic of capricorn.

It wasn't

the happiest of endings.

It wasn't an ending at all.

After chapter 22, there was nothing

But the question.

Did the number live to kill another day?

The number had gone after Kyuubi.

- And now it was coming after me.

You.

It's all your fault. If

you hadn't made me late...

all right, this suits me fine.

A place to rest in peace.

Yes!

I got you, you son of a bitch.

It's okay, boy.

You'll get up in a couple

of hours with a bad headache.

That's all.

"Chapter 23:

You can call me Kyuubi,

But my real name is Naruto .

Naruto uzumaki.

What you have read so far

is not the whole truth.

Much has been changed

to protect the innocent

And the guilty.

I once read that the only

philosophical question that matters

Is whether or not to commit suicide.

I guess that makes me a philosopher.

You could say it was my inheritance.

After my mother's death

My father couldn't cope.

He didn't leave a note.

Just a number.

That number followed me from

foster home to foster home,

Till college when I met her.

Sakura tollins.

Do it tight.

Pretend that you have a knife.

I got a knife.

Cut my shirt.

- I'll cut you some more.

- Are you?

Yeah, I'll cut you.

Cut me. Cut me.

"I loved her."

One little-Known...

"And I

thought she loved me."

...esoteric procession of the number 23.

Does a thing itself

have a mystical power?

- Does that equate? - Yes,

that- That's- That's the...

"Until my father's

number returned to haunt me."

Are you insane?

"That fucking number."

"When I circled every

23rd letter of her note...

it became clear."

"The number had gone after me.

- And now it wanted her."

Sakura, this room-

You gotta get out.

- It's coming for you. I can't stop it.

- What?

- What?

- The number.

- No no no no no.

- Leave me alone.

You think you have the guts to use it?

Go ahead.

Kill me.

I love you.

I never loved you, ever.

How could I?

How could anyone?

You're pathetic.

Just like your father.

- Get out!

Sakura.

Sakura!

Sakura! Sakura!

Sakura!

Sakura! Sakura!

Sakura! Sakura!

Sakura! Sakura!

Sakura!

"I was right.

She was in danger.

I just didn't realize

the danger was me."

It's gonna be all right.

I just didn't realize

the danger was me."

Hey, Sakura.

Sakura?

"What

began as a suicide note

Turned into something more..."

Shh-

Get the-

"...Much, much more."

23. That's a good one.

That's a good one.

23. 23.

23.

23, 23. Fuck it, fuck it.

I can see it. It's everywhere.

It's everywhere. It's everywhere.

No more fun and games.

Sakura.

Shit! This fucking...

it's not true.

It's not true.

He does not-

Does not-

I love you...

more than any of...

period, exclamation.

Remember this?

"They

thought it was the fall..."

He doesn't remember anything. It's not

uncommon in cases of such severe head injury.

He could recover his

memory tomorrow or never.

Well, of course you have

to factor in the history

Of mental instability

of the patient's family.

His own father attempted suicide.

He just managed to be a

little more successful at it.

"...Because the trauma

of Sakura appeared to be fiction."

- And all that scribbling?

- Severe graphomania.

The rantings of a delirious mind.

Some sort of a survivor's guilt mixed up

With a numerology obsession.

You have your hands full, doctor.

Mmm. I'll do what I can.

Say, uh, may I have this book?

Thank you.

"My novel,

My confession,

_**the Bible reading from Numbers 32:23: "Be sure your sin will find you out.**_


End file.
